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that otherwise would immediately kill them. 



Do not misunderstand me : I do net mean 

 to say that all diseases are thus contracted, but 

 only those that are similar to those I have men- 

 tioned. Nor do I assert that the observance 

 of all the precautions hinted at, will ward off 

 all danger. Careful observation has led me 

 to perceive that many of our common insects 

 are conveyers of the germs of illness, disease 

 and death. The House-Fly that crawls over 

 our food or drowns itself in our drink, the 

 Gnat that buries its lancet in our veins, the 

 Bed-Bug that attacks the uncleanly during the 

 slumbers of night, the Wasp and the Bee that 

 thrust us with their stings — all are transport- 

 ers, injectors or introducers of germ life. 



My reasons for affirming this are briefly 

 comprised in the statement that I have never 

 known a person to suffer from malarial fever 

 that had not at one time or other been stung 

 by Gnats or been' the resident of a region con- 

 taining these pests ; and that anyone can appre- 

 ciate the too palpable filthiness of the Ply, feed- 

 ing, crawling, rioting and breeding in the 

 loathsome repulsiveness of refuse, offal, and 

 decaying abominations of every conceivable 

 kind ; then alighting on our victuals or on our 



